STATEMENT BY AMBASSADOR BURHAN GAFOOR, PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF SINGAPORE TO THE UNITED NATIONS, AT THE INFORMAL INTERACTIVE DIALOGUE ON THE RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT, 6 SEPTEMBER 2016

Mr Moderator,

        Thank you for convening this informal interactive dialogue, which is very timely.  We also want to express our appreciation to the members of the Panel for their interesting insights. 

        We also thank the Secretary-General for his latest report, which provides substantive recommendations on how we can take this agenda forward. I would like to highlight three points:

        First, the primary responsibility for the protection of civilian populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity rests with the State.  National governments cannot abdicate their responsibility to protect their citizens.  Instability and extremism flourish when the needs and aspirations of citizens are not met. Accordingly, human development is key and the link with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is very important.  The onus is on each of us to implement the SDGs, in particular SDG 16 on the promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development. 

        Second, international partnership and support are essential to improve national resilience. The UN, regional organisations and civil society must work with each other to support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and create in each of our countries the necessary institutions and capacities for a resilient and inclusive society.  In this regard, ‘prevention is better than cure’.   The priority must be to help countries ensure that the conditions for instability and conflict do not arise.  And when they do, there is a case for the international community to act collectively and in a spirit of solidarity.

        This leads me to my third point.  The international community has an obligation - under pillar 3- to help address situations where crimes of atrocity have occurred, in a timely and decisive manner.  But to do so, the international community must act through the United Nations, as was made clear in paragraph 139 of the World Summit Outcome.

        Small states such as Singapore look to the Security Council to live up to its global responsibility to maintain international peace and security.  Unfortunately, we have seen the veto used too often in the past to prevent action to address crimes of atrocity.  We welcome the fact that two P5 members have supported initiatives to limit the use of the veto in cases of mass atrocities.  We call on other permanent members of the Security Council to take a similar position  by stating that they will refrain from using the veto to block Council action aimed at preventing or ending genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.  Such a collective commitment by the P5 is essential to signal the resolve of the Security Council and the international community to support the R2P agenda.

        I thank you.

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